Re: Changing top level files and include/ files over to GPLv3

Nick Clifton
2007-07-12T10:14:53Z

Hi Geoff,

> I presume this will include files licensed with an exception,

I had intended to files with license exceptions, but that has now
changed. The GCC Steering Committee has decided to leave such files
alone (for now), so I will not change them.

> like include/demangle.h.

I was not aware that this file had an exception. Looking at its
copyright header I do not see the exception listed. Can you tell me
where I can find it ?

> Some time before you do this, could you post the exact wording so I
> can have legal people look at it?

Do you mean the wording of the copyright header in the file or the
wording of the GPLv3 ? The wording of the header would look like this:

/* Defs for interface to demanglers.
Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003, 2004, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street - Fifth Floor,
Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. */

This incorperates two changes to the header as it currently exists in
demangle.h:

* The year 2007 has been added to the list of copyright years.
* "version 3" is used in place of "version 2" in the second paragraph.

The GPLv3 can be found in $src/bfd/COPYING.

Possibly however you are thinking of the exception listed in the
copyright header of the include/libiberty.h file ?

Note - certain prototypes declared in this header file are for
functions whose implementation copyright does not belong to the
FSF. Those prototypes are present in this file for reference
purposes only and their presence in this file should not construed
as an indication of ownership by the FSF of the implementation of
those functions in any way or form whatsoever.

I am not going to be changing this file, but my assumption would be that
this paragraph would remain intact and in place, if/when libiberty.h is
upgraded to GPLv3.

Cheers
Nick